Las Vegas took center stage this weekend as the global center for flight simulation, hosting a dynamic edition of FlightSimExpo 2024. The event was a haven for enthusiasts, offering them the chance to connect with creators they admire and follow closely.
The Microsoft Flight Simulator team was out in force, including of course Jorg Neumann and Sebastian Wloch, whose presentation on Friday got the community excited about what’s to come later in the year with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024.
This environment was ideal for exploring the team’s insights into the future of the platform. I had the opportunity to speak with Jorge and Seb for about 30 minutes and naturally MSFS 2024 was the main topic of discussion. Both Jorg and Seb provided a lot of great insights, so go ahead and check it out below!
Vasco: Jorg, you said something in your presentation yesterday that really hit home when you said, “Thank you for entrusting us with this hobby.” Do you feel this weight on your shoulders?
Jorg Neumann (head of Microsoft Flight Simulator): It used to be a real drag when we came back because Microsoft stopped making Flight Sim for 15 years, which was a bit of a shock. When we came back, people didn’t know us or Asobo. There was no connection to flight simulation. Over the last four years of Flight Sim 2020, I think we have earned people’s trust. It is good to remind ourselves that we are very grateful and feel trust.
Vasco: You have painted a very positive picture of the success of MSFS and it is clearly very successful within the community. How successful do you think Microsoft Flight Simulator is? Is this good business for Microsoft?
George: An interesting tidbit: when we start a project, we try to figure out what success looks like. We have a target forecast that includes a minimum forecast, a maximum forecast, and something called a breakout. We just passed the breakthrough. So it’s a success – it really exceeded our expectations.
Vasco: There’s a reason I’m asking this. There have been some changes in Microsoft’s gaming division recently, including the closure of a studio and the launch of some Xbox exclusives on PlayStation. How will this affect Microsoft Flight Simulator?
George: I don’t feel it at all. I am super focused on Flight Sim and making the Flight Sim community happy. That’s all we can do and I think we’re doing a good job. As you said, people are responding positively and business is good, so I’m very excited.
Vasco: When MSFS 2020 came out, it was clear that you wanted to reach more people than ever before. PC, Xbox, cloud gaming… I can even fly on my iPhone! Are there any plans to take it even further with 2024?
George: Well, we still lack mouse and keyboard support on xCloud, which is currently not supported by the platform. Asobo can’t do it alone – this is a platform function and the platform function has been delayed. We have touch controls, but no mouse and keyboard yet, which is obviously important. When you sit down, I don’t know if you’ve ever played xCloud on a laptop, but I have. I have an old laptop that doesn’t really have anything to run Flight Sim on, but it works and is pretty good. However, I have a trackpad and can’t use a mouse and keyboard. It is strange. We are working on it and should see it on both platforms in the next 10 months or so, in 2020 and 2024.
Vasco: Could we see MSFS on PlayStation?
George: That decision is way above my pay grade!
Vasco: A big focus of MSFS 2024 is community engagement “Made for the community, with the community” as you said. It’s quite open to the work of many developers, but on the other hand, you’re also implementing features – like the new flight planner – that are important to other developers, like Navigraph. How do you balance that?
George: I think Navigraph is great, but not many people want to spend $15 a month. We have many users who have no idea what Navigraph is or even what charts are. For us as a platform, I think it’s important to introduce people to these features for free. Navigraph will always go further than us – they are the specialists. We didn’t have anything that was suitable, the graphics weren’t even in the sim, so let’s add that so people can really get used to it.
For me, bringing millions of people into this hobby is all about “when”. Lots of people have been doing this for decades, but we start somewhere, typically with a GA aircraft, and then you graduate. I think we need to make it as frictionless as possible.
Vasco: Does having so many third parties involved make it easier to develop because there are more teams and more people, or is it more difficult because of the scale / things to coordinate that aren’t internal?
Sebastian Wloch (Executive Director of Asobo): I think it’s basically the same. It can make it difficult, but we’ve developed more processes and tools for faster integration. I don’t see it as a problem at all, more like an advantage. The industry has matured and become more organized, so I see that as an advantage, something that allows us to move faster.
Vasco: Jorgi, we keep hearing from some people in the community that you focus more on gamers than hardcore simmers. Is this true and why do you think this perception still exists in some communities?
George: The perception is there because our trailers appeal to a wide audience, which is intentional. Do I have to convince flight simmers that flight simming is cool? No – it’s their hobby. We need to ensure that we fulfill their wishes, so we keep a close eye on wish lists and feedback. To make flight simulation more widespread, we need to reach more people.
Some people say, “I don’t care about balloons and Zeppelins,” but some are afraid of airplanes, so we offer alternatives. We have many ultralights in Flight Sim 2024, so many people will get to fly. We want to reach a wide audience, not just one group. I want to make sure the main sims are happy, but a lot of people who have never tried a flight sim see our trailers and decide to try it. This is good for the hobby.
Vasco: Can you elaborate more on this career mode and what is the typical use case?
George: We’re not really talking about it yet. It’s coming!
Vasco: And how does this new bypass mode work?
Self: Very simply. In MSFS 2020, you can emerge on the runway ready for takeoff or in the cold and dark. Imagine another way, a cold and dark takeoff, but outside the plane. When you land somewhere, you can click on the door and you’re out. You can walk around, take pictures, and interact with the aircraft like the control surfaces using a similar highlighting system to what we had for cockpit checklists. That’s in the checklists, right? You’ll want to move each control surface to make sure it’s not locked. It’s very easy: you click on the door, the door opens and you’re out.
Vasco: what about the weather Generally speaking, what improvements are planned for it? New cloud types, better density?
Self: We wrote down a lot of small requests. On a larger scale, we’ve improved the cloud system, added cirrus and more definition. The most important upgrade is the flash. Light scattering and atmospheric simulations have been completely reworked. The horizon line is gone, that has been fixed.
As for fog, we are simulating air with particle density, and in polluted cities the air can become very dense. When visibility is reduced, it is usually because the clouds are at ground level. We can simulate it with presets, the problem is more with live weather. We need to better sync with the weather provider to ensure accurate cloud simulation, and we are working on that.
Vasco: What about ATC?
Self: I can’t say anything at the moment, but we will in the future.
Vasco: You also announced the 737 MAX yesterday. Self, what can you tell us about the project?
Self: It’s a very big team with a lot of focus. The depth of the system is very high, it uses all new technologies. For example, I showed the A330 with new surfaces and the 737 MAX uses it. It has very good improved aerodynamics. It is our biggest aircraft, a very big project for us.
Vasco: It’s clear there’s a lot to come. The visual improvements are impressive, now there’s ray tracing. So how does the performance compare to MSFS 2020?
Self: There are improved details and complexity, but also more optimization. For example, the surface system on a plane: in MSFS 2020 there were 500 to 1000 surfaces on a plane. It’s 10x more in the new plane, but it’s multi-threaded and optimized, so the cost is about the same. Overall performance should be similar.
Georg: Similar or better. We do not change the system requirements.
Vasco: You mentioned that there will be new optimizations. There are a few popular mods that change settings on the fly to create a smoother experience, such as AutoFPS. Are you planning something similar for better performance in critical stages?
George: I think these mods are trying to improve MSFS 2020. You should see what 2024 has to offer – the new system is very good and different.
Vasco: You said that all the planes shown so far will be in the basic simulator. Are you planning to release only one version of MSFS 2024 or will you continue to offer premium options with more planes and airports and so on?
Georg: I can’t talk much about it, but there was a discussion about whether we should do something like that. It’s a business decision.
Vasco: What is your plan for the next few months leading up to the release? What will you focus on in terms of the message you would like to communicate about MSFS 2024 prior to release?
George: We’ll have a developer Q&A moving into 2024. We’ll be doing the Feature Discovery series again, which was very successful. Much more to come. Many people ask about the SDK. We strengthen the construction and ensure stability and documentation. In a few months, we’ll be rolling out an SDK so creators can make modifications if they want. Backward compatibility is important, so they don’t have to do anything if they don’t want to take advantage of the new systems.
Vasco: Since Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 will launch in late 2024, why not call it 2025?
George: People ask this, even internally. We launched Microsoft Flight Simulator in August 2020, and people are calling it 2020. They could have called it 2021, but they didn’t. Well, here we are; we’re launching in 2024, so we’ll take advantage of that. It’s alright.
